[Familyofmonkeys]

This morning i found a cockroach in the hallway outside bedrooms. :exit

I had to find some piccies on internet to make sure that is what it was....it's now sat underneath a glass next to me:o

If there is one...I assume there must be more. Is this a big problem?

Seem to be having an insect nightmare....first son is bitten by fleas in carpet (flea bom the place), then get invaded by ants (now got poison all over the place....not very child friendly) and now cockroach!!!

[andrewandjane]

we had the same thing, fleas..we did two bombs and went out for the day, problem solved. the ants..we keep everything in plastic containers and try to keep food crumbs cleaned up (hard with out two young boys!)

i came home from work and my wife had an insect in a glass asking what it was.....it was a roach, wve only found three so far and like you wondered if there was more, as we keep all the food in plastic boxes, tins or the fridge we presume theres nothing for them to feed on, and havent found anymore so maybe they came in from outside or something.

its not a nice thought sharing your home with them as theyre pretty ugly things

[Familyofmonkeys]

I also keep all foot either in plastic tubs or in fridge, ever since ants started appearing. According to stuff I read on internet, roaches can eat fabric etc....I am worried they will damage sheets etc in airing cupboard:o

[BkyMonster]

I don't know if boric acid is available there but it is relatively non-toxic (to people and pets. Not that you should eat it by the spoonful!) and kills roaches quite well. Check your drawers, cabinets and underneath sinks and look for small dark speckles of 'roach dirt'. This is a good place to sprinkle boric acid. The roaches eat it and take it back to the nest and it dehydrates them to death.
To be safe do keep it away from food and keeping your food in containers is a good idea.

I forgot to say, you may be able to buy it at a pharmacy/druggists or find a powder laundry detergent with it as one of the main ingredients.

[Silverwing86]

We have also found a couple of these ugly critters I'm afraid :uhoh, don't they look strange though ? I'd never seen light brown cockroaches before I came here :confused:.

We've found them mostly outside, only two in the house in the 6 months we've been here. Thankfully, they seem to be coming in from outside, rather than having nests inside. Someone told me that the more trees you have near your house, the more cockroaches you will find, but not sure if this is true.

Some tips about cockroaches that we learned when vacationing in the Canary Islands where they are a real pest. It seems that if you crush them, they drop their eggs right then and there, so that's not really a great option as it can only lead to more. Also, as I understand it, they're not so much after food scraps as after warmth. It seems that warmth is the main reason they tend to wander indoors.

I've found the most effective way to deal with them is to spray them with Mortein. This kills them within a minute, and also keeps them out if sprayed preventitively around the areas they might come in through, ie: around doorways, windows, airing holes in outside walls and such. However, this may not be a great solution if you have kids, in that case the boric acid sounds like a more workable solution.

Silver

[Aussie Pom]

We have the mothers of all roaches over here, I remember being hysterical after my first encounter... now I just slap them with my shoe, really hard! Yuck.
Apparently it is the small ones that spread more germs, the large ones live outside more. We buy baits, they are usually contained in a plastic container that prevents the risk of children and pets getting to them. Put them in high risk areas... under the fridge, under the sink etc, they usually last about 3 months.
Also keep all your food in plastic, we keep a lot more stuff in the fridge than we ever would in the UK, bread, veggies etc
Good luck!
Gina:uhoh

[Familyofmonkeys]

The one sitting next to me under the glass is about 1.5 inches long....is this a large one then?:o

[Tia Maria]

If you haven't spotted it already, check out this thread:

www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11212

Cheers

Tia

[Sam B]

We get about 1 or 2 every week, and at first we thought it must be a sign of an infestation, but it doesn't seem to be. I don't squash them, due to things said on that other thread about zillions of eggs on their tummies going into the floorboards - we wrap them up in paper, then squash them, and then burn them on the fire just to be sure. After all, they are supposed to be able to survive a nuclear holocaust, so you can't be too careful! My 6 year old is still shouting us in the night because I stupidly read out that bit on the other thread about them nibbling children's fingernails at night. Grrr.

[Debbie]

Yep horrid critters aren't they. They are in my list of things I would change about NZ, it's a short list but they are near the top.

House spraying seems to last along time, the previouse owners sprayed this house at some point which explains why 2 out of the 3 I've found in the house have been dead. Still gross. The 3rd was heading in through the extractor vent in the bath room:exit

We will have to wait till summer to spray again as I don't think my sons allergies could cope with the lack of hoovering and dusting that's required to make it work.

I'm sure that roachs know how scared I am of them and wait for me, OH has never found one, they only seem to show themselves when I go to the wood shed. A kiwi friend told me that they like to hide in the dead rolled up leaves of cabbage trees. We have loads of them near us,:( typical. She also warned about bringing in to much fire wood as they hide and lay eggs there.

Now our wood comes in and gets burnt that night.


look for small dark speckles of 'roach dirt'.

O' yuck.:exit I'm going to have to stop reading these roach threads, it's making me even more neurotic that I was. Tea bag dust, toast crumbs, soot.... Do you know how much black dust I've found today!!!
Now where is that large bottle of bleach I brought.

Debbie

[macd]

I've decided the only way I could live with the beasties (of any description) is to try hypnotherapy, just can't stand the thought of them never mind the sight of them.

[swissmissdesigner]

I would screaming and run away!

[Gran]

The big roaches are about 5 cm long, you would know if you had seen one! at our place they seem to come in with the leaflets and newspapers from the letterbox, so I shake the junk mail etc. before I take it indoors. Aparently the Ant Ban which you can buy in the supermarkets will also deter roaches for up to 4 months, so spray it around in cupboards (with everything inside covered) that should help. The ingredient is Permathrin.

[John Z]

I'm sorry, but this must be the best thread I've seen, I'm having a great time imagining what's happening in your houses... I'm so sorry! LOL

The only time I've ever seen these roaches was on Lanzarote (also a volcanic island...), they were big enough to spot them from a distance, having an easy, pleasant walk towards the house. I'd just stamp my foot (I think I really know how to do that...) and point to where the neighbours house was. And off they were. :laugh

[Lupin]

Initially I was quite blaise about cockroaches. Then I had the undies incident, which I have tried to forget but the above post reminded me.

I cleared out our front letterbox of junk advertising one evening and popped to use the loo, taking the leaflets with me. When I sat down I decided to have a quick flick through them and as I did so a HUGE ugly roach leapt out. I panicked and was startled enough to scream and leap up. As my instinct was to flee the room I pulled up my undies and pants (NZ)

You can guess where I felt the roach wriggle next :no I was nearly sick on the spot but managed to tear off my pants and undies and shook the undies over the loo. The cunning roach crawled out onto my hand, whence I got quite hysterical and dropped the undies in the loo while shaking the roach down and hid in bed until my husband got home from work.

It was quite awful :exit

[jackie m]

You can guess where I felt the roach wriggle next I was nearly sick on the spot but managed to tear off my pants and undies and shook the undies over the loo. The cunning roach crawled out onto my hand, whence I got quite hysterical and dropped the undies in the loo while shaking the roach down and hid in bed until my husband got home from work
:laugh That made my evening not nice for you I know but very funny all the same.

[John Z]

Initially I was quite blaise about cockroaches. Then I had the undies incident, which I have tried to forget but the above post reminded me.

...................

You know, I have such a vivid imagination...:laugh......... :eek:............ :laugh........... :nice1